Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

"What’s so interesting about that notebook, anyway?" He asked, either oblivious to Zorian’s disinterest in continued conversation or deliberately ignoring it. "Don’t tell me you’re studying already?"

"No, these are just notes on some personal research," said Zorian. "It’s not going too well so I’m a little frustrated with it. My mind keeps drifting to it." Especially when the alternative was talking to an overly inquisitive first year.

"The academy library-"

"First thing I tried," Zorian sighed. "I’m not stupid, you know?"

The boy rolled his eyes at him. "Did you search for the books yourself or did you ask the librarian to help you? Mother works as a librarian, and they have these special divination spells that let them find things in minutes that would take you decades if you search by title and skimming alone."

Zorian opened his mouth before closing it. Ask the librarian for help, huh? Okay, maybe he is stupid.

"Well… it’s not really a topic I want to bother the librarian with," Zorian tried. Which was true, but he knew he’d end up trying it anyway. "Maybe I could find the spells themselves in the spell repository? But no, if they are anything like other divination spells it’s using them correctly and interpreting the results that’s the problem, not casting them…"

"You could always get a job in the library," the boy offered. "If the academy library is anything like the one my mother works in, they’re always desperate for help. They teach their employees how to use those spells as a matter of course."

"Really?" Zorian asked, rather intrigued by the idea.

"It’s worth a try," he said, shrugging.

For the rest of the ride, Zorian stopped trying to evade conversation. Byrn had definitely earned some respect from him.

"Of course! We’re always looking for help!"

Well… that was easy.

"We can’t pay you much, understand – that miserable gnome of a headmaster cut our budget again! – but we’re very flexible about work time and we’ve got a pretty friendly atmosphere here…"

Zorian waited patiently for the librarian to run out of steam. She was an unassuming middle aged woman at first glance, but the moment she had begun speaking he realized her looks were rather deceiving – she was cheerful and had a sort of indescribable energy about her. Just standing around her made Zorian feel the same sort of pressure he felt when stuck in a crowd of people, and he had to rein in his instinct to step back as if from a raging fire.

"I’m guessing you don’t get many work offers, then?" Zorian tried. "Why is that? Shouldn’t people be fighting tooth and nail to work in a place like this? It’s a pretty famous library."

She snorted, and Zorian could swear he could feel the derision and a touch of bitterness in the seemingly innocuous sound. "Academy regulations require us to only hire employees that are first circle mages or higher. Most graduates have better paying and more glamorous options than this," she waved her hand towards rows or bookshelves around them, "reducing us to hiring students. Who are…"

She suddenly stopped and blinked, as if remembering something. "But anyway, enough of that!" she said, clapping her hands and beaming at him. "From this day on, you’re one of the library assistants. Congratulations! If you have any questions, I’ll be glad to answer them."

It was only through superhuman willpower that Zorian stopped himself from rolling his eyes at her. He never agreed to anything, merely inquired about the possibility of employment… and she undoubtedly knew that. But oh well, he did want the job, and not just because he was hoping to learn some nifty new spells and translate the lich’s chant – he suspected that library employees got to access parts of the library that would normally be restricted to him as a first circle mage, and that was just too much of a temptation to pass up.

"Question one," said Zorian, "How often do I come to work?"

She blinked, surprised for a moment. No doubt she expected him to protest her presumptuousness. "Well… when can you come? Between the classes, and the need for study time and other commitments, most of our student employees work once or twice a week. How much time can you set aside for this?"

"The classes are pretty easy at this point," Zorian said. "We’re mostly doing the review of our second year, which I know like the back of my hand. Setting aside one day for unexpected developments, I could be here 4 times a week. My weekends are mostly free too, if you need any help then."

Zorian mentally berated himself for talking like that – the classes hadn’t even started yet, so how would he know what they consisted of? Luckily, the librarian didn’t call him out on it. Instead her eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this and she started shouting.

"Ibery!" she called out. "I’ve got a new partner for you!"

A bespectacled girl carrying an armload of books popped out of the small room adjacent to the information desk to see what was going on. Oh. It was the green turtleneck girl (she was wearing it even now) that he shared a compartment with…

…except he had chosen a seat on the other side of the train this time, so they never met on the train. Oh well, probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

"Anyway, I believe some introductions are in order," the librarian said. "I am Kirithishli Korisova, one of the few actual librarians in this place. This pretty lady," she gestured towards the turtleneck girl, who blushed at the praise and shifted uncomfortably, clutching the stack of books tighter in her arms, "is our resident busy little bee, Ibery Ambercomb. Ibery has been working here since last year, and I don’t know what I’d do without her. Ibery, this is Zorian Kazinski."

The girl suddenly perked up at this. "Kazinski? As in…"

"As in, younger brother of Daimen Kazinski," Zorian said, unable to suppress a small sigh.

"Um…"

"Actually, I’m pretty sure she meant your other brother," Kirithishli said with a sly smile. "She’s in class with Fortov and has a bit of a crush…"

She and a dozen other girls. Fortov never had a shortage of women throwing themselves at him.

"Miss Korisova!" Ibery protested.

"Oh, lighten up," Kirithishli said. "Anyway, Zorian here will be working with us pretty heavily for the foreseeable future. Go show him what to do."

And just like that, he was employed at the library. Only time would tell if he was wasting his time.

Much like the last time, Zach hadn’t come to class. Zorian was half-expecting it, but it was no less annoying because of it. It cemented Zorian’s suspicion that Zach was heavily involved in this mess, but the boy’s absence made it impossible for Zorian to confront him about it. What was he supposed to do now?

For that matter, was he supposed to do anything at all ? Last time he had been operating on the belief that if he didn’t do something about the invasion, no one would. No one else had the strange future memories he did, after all. If his speculations were correct, though, Zach had probably traveled through time specifically to stop the invasion – what other reason did he have to frequent this particular time period? Besides, he had been wandering the city during the attack, picking off attackers. So all in all, there just might be an experienced time-traveling mage on the job already, and he would only get in the way.

The problem with that idea was that he was ultimately just guessing, and had no idea if it was true or not. He could be dooming himself and the city through inaction, relying on a boy who, quite frankly, didn’t inspire too much confidence in him. Zach reminded him of his brothers a little too much. And besides, didn’t Zach lose against the lich? Yeah.